Freddie Stubbs
Freddie Stubbs's JournalKerry Defends US Drone Policy After Pakistan Hit
Source: Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry is defending U.S. drone strikes after the CIA’s killing of a senior Taliban member.
Kerry says the U.S. is at war with al-Qaida and the Taliban, so the strikes are legal. He says the U.S. wages the war in self-defense and as a last resort.
U.S. drone policy is under growing scrutiny. President Barack Obama promised greater transparency last week and said attacks would target only “imminent threats” to U.S. national security.
On Wednesday, a CIA strike killed a Pakistani Taliban deputy leader.
Read more: http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/05/31/kerry-defends-us-drone-policy-after-pakistan-hit/
White House Taps Former Bush Official for Housing Post
Source: The Wall Street Journal
The White House has taken an unusual tack in filling a key housing policy post, turning to a former Bush administration official who later helped design President Barack Obama’s response to the foreclosure crisis.
Seth Wheeler, a former Treasury Department official under the both Bush and Obama administrations, joined the National Economic Council earlier this month as senior adviser on housing policy, a White House spokesman said.
The move comes amid questions about the administration’s housing policy going forward and whether it will turn its attention to deciding the fates of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , the government-sponsored enterprises that were placed in conservatorship during the 2008 financial crisis. The administration has been largely silent on the issue, having studied options for a new system of mortgage-guarantees to replace Fannie and Freddie, but opting not to publish a detailed recommendation thus far.
Earlier this month, Mr. Obama nominated Rep. Mel Watt (D., N..C.) to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie. That nomination has already run into criticism from Republicans on Capitol Hill, who argued that Mr. Watt lacks the necessary experience in mortgage markets.
Read more: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/05/31/white-house-taps-former-bush-official-for-housing-post/
If you want to stop the Comey FBI nomination, call your Republican Senators, not Democratic ones
Democratic Senators have loyal to President Obama when it has come to his nominees. The only times that nominations have failed (or potential nominees withdrew themselves from consideration) has been due to Republican opposition.
So go ahead call up Rand Paul or Ted Cruz and tell them to oppose President Obama on this one!
Cuomo: 'Shame on us' if Weiner elected NYC mayor
Source: The Hill
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Thursday blasted former Rep. Anthony Weiner's (D-N.Y.) now-official New York City mayoral candidacy, telling reporters "shame on us" if the disgraced lawmaker were to be elected.
Weiner was forced to resign in 2011 after images of him in various states of undress surfaced. The New York lawmaker sent the images via Twitter to women he met online.
But in recent months, he's looked to rehabilitate his image with a series of interviews and public appearances. On Tuesday, he announced in a video posted to YouTube that he was running for mayor.
In that video, Weiner acknowledges his past indiscretions.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/301567-cuomo-shame-on-us-if-weiner-elected-nyc-mayor#ixzz2U8B9H0yN
Iran electoral watchdog hints at Rafsanjani rejection
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - Iran's electoral watchdog said on Monday it would bar physically feeble candidates from running for president, in an apparent hint that it could disqualify 78-year-old former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from the race.
Rafsanjani, if he is allowed to run, would be a significant challenge to conservative hardliners who are ultra-loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and who otherwise dominate the field for the June 14 presidential election.
The wily, pragmatic cleric, who has often been close to the heart of power since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, shook up the election contest earlier this month when he joined the race.
But the Guardian Council, a conservative body of clerics and jurists that vets all candidates, may disqualify him, along with Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who also registered to run at the last moment.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/20/us-iran-election-idUSBRE94J0CS20130520?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637
Justices endorse FCC authority in cellphone tower case
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has authority to try to speed up the process for installing wireless communications towers when local governments have been slow to act.
The case hinged on a federal law requiring state and local governments to act on tower-siting applications within a "reasonable period of time."
In a 6-3 vote, the court said that the agency has leeway to interpret ambiguity in the law about the extent of its regulatory authority.
The FCC had decided that 90-day and 150-day deadlines relating to decisions on cellphone towers were fair, and a federal appeals court upheld its decision.
Read more: http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2013/05_-_May/Justices_endorse_FCC_authority_in_cellphone_tower_case/
ARK. TREASURER ACCUSED OF TAKING CASH FROM BROKER
Source: Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas' state treasurer was accused Monday of taking at least $36,000 in cash — sometimes stashed in a pie box — from a broker who later came to manage a large share of the state's $3.3 billion stock and bond portfolio.
Martha Shoffner made her initial federal court appearance Monday and was released on her own recognizance. She was also ordered to surrender her passport.
Federal prosecutors allege Shoffner accepted $12,000 a year from a broker who would sometimes deliver cash in a pie box, pie included. The broker is cooperating with investigators.
Shoffner, a Democrat, told reporters outside the courthouse Monday that she does not intend to resign. She was re-elected in 2010 and has faced inquiries over the past year about the way her office has handled state investments.
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ark-treasurer-accused-taking-cash-broker
Dennis Kucinich is earning his pay
Former Rep. Kucinich: Obama ‘hasn’t done anything’ on jobs
Former Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) blasted President Obama on Sunday for not doing enough to lower the unemployment rate in the country.
“President Obama hasn't done anything about the unemployment problem,” said Kucinich on “Fox News Sunday.”
“We have massive amounts of people who are out of work and… [Obama] has to be held accountable for not creating the jobs. We have about 8 million people out of work, about another 8 million people working part time and shouldn't be. We need an economic agenda. We don't have it.”
A staunch liberal, Kucinich has been actively outspoken against some of the administration’s policies and actions since leaving office at the end of the last Congress.
more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/300611-former-rep-kucinich-obama-hasnt-done-anything-on-jobs
It is nice to see that Mr. Kucinich is still able to 'speak truth to power' even while drawing a paycheck from Fox News.
Diplomat claims US forces told to stand down in Benghazi
Source: The Hill
U.S. special forces in Tripoli were prepared to fly to Benghazi on the night the U.S. mission was attacked but were told to stand down, a State Department whistleblower told congressional investigators.
The testimony by Gregory Hicks, who became the top U.S. diplomat in Libya when Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed, contradicts previous testimony by Obama administration officials who said all the security assets inside the country were tapped that night. Hicks said the special forces team was ready to fly after Stevens was killed but before a second attack killed two other Americans.
After Libya's prime minister called to tell him Stevens had died, Hicks said, “the Libyan military agreed to fly their C130 to Benghazi and carry additional personnel to Benghazi as reinforcements. But as the special forces team headed to the airport, Hicks said, they got a phone call from Special Operations Command Africa saying “you can't go now, you don't have authority to go now.”
Republicans on the House oversight panel released portions of an April 11 interview with Hicks ahead of Wednesday's hearing on Benghazi. Hicks is scheduled to testify along with two other State Department officials with direct knowledge of the events of the attack last Sept. 11 and the Obama administration's response.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/terrorism/297963-diplomat-claims-us-special-forces-told-to-stand-down-in-benghazi#ixzz2SXQtUFcj
A gay problem for Charlie Crist
Charlie Crist will be the keynote speaker at the joint "Kennedy-King Dinner" sponsored by the Hillsborough and Pinellas Democratic parties Saturday, May 11 at the Tampa Convention Center.
The former Republican governor and potential Democratic gubernatorial nominee for 2014 provokes some strong feelings pro and con among Democrats. And the invititation to Crist by Hillsborough and Pinellas Democratic leaders prompted the following Buzz BLOG Guest Column by Michael Rajner, a Democratic activist from Fort Lauderdale, who serves as the legislative director for the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus and was the GLBT Representative on the Florida Democratic Party's Platform Committee.
CRIST, I DARE YOU TO SAY GAY IN HILLSBOROUGH
Hillsborough County is rich in its own history of harmful policies affecting the lives of gay, lesbian,bisexual and transgender people. In 2006, Rhonda Storms, Hillsborough County's own Anita Bryant, served as a Hillsborough County Commissioner and moved for her county to "adopt a policy that Hillsborough County government abstain from acknowledging, promoting or participating in gay pride recognition and events, little g, little p." In 2013, The majority of the Hillsborough County Commission opted to join Storms on the homophobe train, voting to deny unmarried partners in Hillsborough County the ability to register with the county as domestic
partners.
more: http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/a-gay-problem-for-charlie-crist/2119216?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tampabaycom%2Fblogs%2Fbuzz+%28The+Buzz+%7C+tampabay.com%29
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